[Daniel Entin]

Сообщение от Д.И.В.

Не думаю, что такие мои потуги на выражение мысли по-английски доставят даже малое amusement кому-то еще кроме вас. Но если даже и нет, если даже и поставить для себя целью для пребывания тут – развлечение людей и доставление им удовольствия различными эпистолярными способами – то тогда русский способ выражения мысли тут будет наиболее эффективным. Поэтому, как бы то ни было – отдавая должное английскому, просто хочется писать по-русски. Чтобы кроме доставления удовольствия еще и связно выражать свои мысли.

Но, а как теперь относятся в вашей среде к "Письмам Махатм" и вообще к Теософии и трудам Е.П.Блаватской – давно хотелось бы спросить, так как в нашей среде к этому относятся довольно неоднозначно – вот представилась возможность и спрашиваю. Тем более, что Нью-Йорк это то место откуда началось как Рериховское так и Теософское движение, по крайней мере для Западного мира. Знаю, что теперь в Англии всё это сошло "на нет", как у нас это принято говорить

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You bring up an important subject, of course. Sometimes one loses hope, thinking how many people in the world, in every country, know nothing about the Teachings. The reason for hope is the understanding that important changes in society, even revolutions, do not happen because the majority of the people make them happen. They are sparked by small numbers of committed people.

It seems to me that there is much activity in this country of the kind you ask about, with large societies all over the country publishing, holding meetings and teachings, and having an effect on the many who are interested and who approach them.

But in the course of my long life, I also have seen how cvclical the interest is. It does not increase (or decrease) in a steady way, but rather breathes, almost like some organism. I have always paid attention to the sections in the larger bookshops that are devoted to spiritual and esoteric teachings -- sometimes those sections are very large, and sometimes they almost disappear. Right now, they are much smaller than they were a generation ago, not only in this country, but everywhere in the West. But they are there, large enough, and influential.

Russia cannot be analyzed in the same way, at least not now. After so many years of being underground, there was in the nineties a huge explosion of interest in spiritual and esoteric literature and study. You may remember that a new book of the Teaching or a book by or about Roerich could be printed in the hundreds of thousands and would sell out quickly. But that is already changing. The situation in Russia is becoming more "normal" (Whether normal is good or bad is another question.) and the editions are more like those in the West, just a few thousand copies.

Your remark about England is odd, because I know of many groups and societies and bookshops and publishers, all active. In the West, a large part of spiritual study is individual. Many students do not like to join groups. So it is hard to build a clear picture of how such things are.

Now, with the new technologies, such as the Internet, it is hard to even think about individual countries. Our Museum web site and our Agni Yoga Society web site reach people all over the world. So many people in remote parts of the planet, who never saw a real book, now download the books and the images of paintings from our sites and print them out for themselves. And we do not even know who these people are, except when they choose to make contact with us.

So I do think that there is a lot of interest in the Western countries, including this one. But esoteric teachings (and that is what they are) will never be embraced by the majority of people. That is why they are called esoteric.

The real question is whether these teachings have affected the world in a positive way, or have reached into the consciousness (or maybe I should say the unconsciousness!) of people. The answer is certainly yes. For example, the idea of the interconnectedness of all that exists, so common now, is the result of the teachings' having filtered into the mass consciousness for the last fifty years or so. I am sure that all the troubles in the world, all the horrors, are the desperate attempts of those who cling to the old way to keep their power. But they all die sooner or later, don't they? And it is the task of the new generation to see that things are better.

I apologize for such a long answer to a short question!

Daniel